💉 TB continues its death march; CKD rises up fast; The world is one hungry place
#583 | Climate woes mount up; But maybe we'll treat malaria; And maybe even osteoporosis
Hello, and welcome back to The Kable. With COP30 in Brazil, there is obviously a lot of news on the climate front this week, very little of it good. But we’ll come to that later.
First, some good news. Clinical trials are imminent in South Africa for its first homegrown cholera vaccine, made by Biovac.
Elsewhere on the continent, Ethiopia has reported an outbreak of what is believed to be a viral haemorrhagic fever, with 8 cases reported in the first report.
The US seems to be proceeding full steam ahead on its plan to bypass global health, with reports indicating that it has begun bilateral negotiations with 16 countries in Africa.
In Gaza, the ceasefire is proceeding excellently if one were to believe Israel. And, of course, syringes are Hamas.
In India, drugmakers are being left with no option by the government but to adhere to global quality and production norms. Oh woe!
In more excellent news, data from Novartis’phase 3 trial for its new malaria drug shows that the candidate met primary endpoints and might even counter resistant strains of malaria. Take that, mosquitoes!
Looks like every week a new Southeast Asian country will be buckling under to the flu now. After Japan and South Korea previously, this week it is Vietnam showing the way.
And reports from Europe indicate the flu is likely to reap a bumper harvest that way too.
In Cuba, it is chikungunya that is leaving healthcare professionals bereft, with nearly one-third of the country falling ill.
Let’s not forget bird flu, shall we? Japan has reported its fourth outbreak this season while Spain has sent birds into lockdown. In Germany, bird flu cases are higher than at any time in the past three years, and they’re expected to soar even higher.
Speaking of Germany, they recently found wild poliovirus in the sewage in Hamburg. Looks like ignoring the problems of the rest of the world will eventually come back to bite you in the butt, eh?
If you thought health issues around the world are bad, boy, have you seen what the climate scene is like? Tehran, a city of over 20 million people, has run dry with leaders saying they may have to evacuate the whole city. Not gonna lie, this is the future facing most cities around the world. It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point. At COP30, Brazil has proposed a new financing plan linking climate and health, a plan that has been met with unaninimous acclaim by all attending nations, but no money from any of them. Hey, clapping is free. Besides if 8 billion people, less the US population, clapped all the time, we might even reverse global warming. However, on the plus side, a group of philanthropies, collectively called Climate and Health Funders Coalition has pledged $300 million to combat health effects of rising heat. What rising heat, you say? The UNEP released a report on the sidelines of COP30 warning that the demand for air conditioning is set to triple in the next 25 years.
And finally, some good news. A study says drinking coffee everyday cuts your risk of atrial fibrillation by nearly 40%. The study didn’t explicitly mention what happens when you drink three (large) cups of coffee everyday but we’re pretty certain it cuts the risk of AFib by 120%. Drink coffee. Your heart needs it.
Stories Of The Week
Here’s CKD. Nearly 800 million adults now live with chronic kidney disease (CKD), a figure that has more than doubled since 1990, according to The Lancet’s latest Global Burden of Disease study. CKD killed 1.5 million people in 2023, making it the ninth-leading cause of death, and one of the few still rising. China and India lead with over 290 million cases combined, but prevalence is climbing across Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, fuelled by obesity, diabetes, and poor diets. Researchers call it a slow-moving, preventable crisis that’s being ignored in global health priorities, even as kidney dysfunction drives 12% of cardiovascular deaths. Access to dialysis and transplants remains deeply unequal, meaning prevention may be the only realistic lifeline for much of the Global South.
(The Lancet)
There goes TB. TB killed 1.23 million people last year, keeping its grip as the world’s deadliest infectious disease, according to the WHO’s new report. For the first time since Covid however, both cases and deaths are declining. Just barely but still. Ordinarily, we might welcome that as unqualified good news but we all know what the state of reporting is around the world when it comes to disease. Even these “positive” numbers hide a much harsher truth: funding has flatlined at $5.9 billion, barely a quarter of what’s needed, and the epidemic remains concentrated in eight countries, led by India. Undernutrition, HIV, diabetes, and smoking keep the cycle spinning, while vaccine R&D has moved at a century-long crawl. As the WHO chief said when releasing the report - a preventable, curable disease killing over a million people a year isn’t a medical failure, it’s a moral one.
(WHO)
Hungry, hungry hippo. The FAO and WFP are sounding the alarm - again - as acute food insecurity worsens across 16 countries, with Sudan, Palestine, South Sudan, Mali, Haiti, and Yemen on the brink of famine. Conflict drives hunger in 14 of them, while economic collapse, climate shocks, and shrinking aid are closing in from every direction. The UN says “famine is not inevitable,” but with funding gaps and political paralysis widening, that’s starting to sound less like reassurance and more like wishful thinking. Millions are already skipping meals or selling what little they own to survive. If the world doesn’t move fast, anticipatory action will soon just mean digging graves earlier.
(FAO)
Breakthroughs
No fat on my bones. Japanese researchers have found a way to heal spinal fractures using stem cells from body fat, and yes, it worked in rats. The Osaka Metropolitan University team turned adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) into bone-forming spheroids, mixed them with a common graft material, and watched the rodents’ fractured spines regrow stronger bone. Because the cells come from fat - a tissue that’s easy to harvest even in the elderly - the therapy could become a low-stress, regenerative fix for osteoporosis-related injuries. Sure, it’s early days still this editor always knew there was a reason for harvesting body fat. And it’s not just because I’m cuddly.
(Bone)
Bottom line
There’s something in the air tonight. And it’s smog. Just like every damn night. Why? Because global emissions are once again set to break records, a grim milestone that confirms humanity hasn’t yet learned to live within its limits. Fossil fuels continue to pour over 38 billion tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere each year, pushing the world further from its 1.5°C promise and closer to irreversible heat. The climate system itself is beginning to turn against us: warmer oceans and degraded forests are losing their ability to absorb carbon, weakening the planet’s natural defences.
Yet, amid the relentless rise, there are faint signals of a turning point. The rate of increase is slowing, renewables are expanding faster than expected, and deforestation is edging down in key regions. The numbers don’t yet spell hope but they do hint at possibility. Maybe we’re nearing the peak for emissions and things will be all better from there on. Heh!
(Global Carbon Budget)
Critical... but treatable? Climate change isn’t a slow-motion crisis anymore. It hasn’t been for a long time now. But nowadays, it’s a full-blown public health emergency. Fossil fuel addiction and failed adaptation now kill millions each year, as heat, hunger, and disease surge across nearly every global indicator. And it’s not using saying this but the latest Lancet Countdown report. Investment keeps flowing into the problem, not the solution, and the cost of inaction is increasingly measured in lives, not GDP points. There is hope though. As the report points out, health systems are cutting emissions, climate education is spreading through medical schools, and grassroots movements are rewriting what resilience looks like.
(Lancet Countdown)
Long reads
Get that jab. Vaccines are not just a health requirement. They’re an economic investment too, as this piece in Gavi’s VaccinesWork so nicely explains.
(VaccinesWork)
A vaccine for everybody. Speaking of vaccines, this piece in Biospectrum Asia explains how the private sector is stepping up across APAC to ensure vaccines stay in demand.
(Biospectrum Asia)
Mirror, mirror on the wall... Look, we get the need for cosmetics and the cosmetics industry. However, there has been enough evidence of how toxic the industry is, and how it preys on social and societal insecurities. This piece in SciDev says that the industry is toxic, even in its applications. Sure, this is about Latin America but we’re fairly certain you could translocate the findings to anywhere in the world.
(SciDev)
Oh, and Gopal Nair doesn’t want you to see this.